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10 Animal L. 313 (2004)
Breed Specific Legislation: Unfair Prejudice & (and) Ineffective Policy

handle is hein.journals/anim10 and id is 321 raw text is: BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION: UNFAIR PREJUDICE & INEFFECTIVE POLICY By Devin Burstein* This comment examines breed specific legislation-the unfortunate attempt of legislatures throughout the country to address the valid concern over vi- cious dog attacks by prohibiting or strictly regulating entire breeds, most often, pit bulls. Such legislation has succeeded in perpetuating uninformed stereotypes and creating a false sense of security for the public. However, breed specific legislation has failed to accomplish the goal of making society safer because it fails to address the responsibility of dog owners for dog at- tacks. In addition, these laws unfairly punish animal and owner alike by ignoring the obvious facts that dogs are individuals capable of a variety of emotions and behaviors, and that no breed is inherently good or evil. To prevent the tragedies that can occur when a dog attacks a human, legisla- tion must take aim at the heart of the problem, the human owners that al- low, through negligence or intentional mistreatment and training, these attacks to occur. I. INTRODUCTION ......................................... 314 II. BREED-SPECIFIC LAWS ................................. 315 III. CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES ....................... 318 A. Substantive Due Process ............................... 318 B. Equal Protection ...................................... 319 C. Vagueness ............................................ 320 IV. POLICY AND REASONING ............................... 323 A . O w ners ............................................... 323 B. Dogs as Individuals ................................... 324 V. PROPOSAL AND CONCLUSION .......................... 326 VI. APPENDIX .............................................. 328 [313] * © Devin Burstein, 2004. Mr. Burstein is an associate at Proskauer Rose LLP. He graduated Cum Laude, Order of the Coif from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where an earlier version of this article won the Benjamin N. Cardozo Writing Award for the Best Course/Independent Research Paper.

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